Originally published on April 26, 2018.

Barbara Lawlor, Gilpin County.

The volunteers gather round the boxes of books, waving away dust motes, checking out the titles and authors and putting the books in the appropriate categories. Making a decision involves discussion. As they work, they find out how their families are doing, who’s coming to visit and the latest best recipe they’ve discovered.

Volunteering at the Gilpin Community Library isn’t work; It’s a good time, it’s a way of finding neighbors and a social network.

Beverly Willhoft came to Gilpin County about a year and a half ago from North Carolina to be near her daughter who lived in Louisville at the time and called and said she had fallen in love with a house in Black Hawk and asked her mom to come live with her.

“When I arrived I looked around and didn’t see any houses, didn’t see any people and wondered what I was going to do? I wanted my own social life. I joined the senior’s exercise class at the recreation center, found the Methodist church and best of all found this beautiful library. I love this.”

Beverly greeted patrons who dropped in to shop the Gilpin Library’s annual fundraising book sale, a large part of their budget. On Friday, people dropped in to peruse the mystery boxes, they thumbed through the romances and skimmed the cookbooks.

They were also drawn to the table filled with home-baked treats and the box filled with homemade choke cherry and pineapple-apricot preserves. The was an anticipated part of the sale; Gilpin resident Pat Stewart has been making jams and jellies for the book sale for over a decade and usually brings in about six dozen jars at a time, a significant donation to the cause.

The volunteers said Pat has never divulged the location of her berry patch. Also on sale were Gilpin Library collector cups that have been great gifts for years.

Moms and their kids came in and the young readers had a great time choosing what they wanted and filling a bag for $3.

The volunteers said there weren’t as many books as in previous years, probably due to the new online reading habits and would like to encourage people to go through their shelves and bring in the forgotten books collecting dust. Those who love to read will never tire of turning pages to see what happens next, to see what journey they are beginning.